ID on the Total population Country Name of functional urban area Class type map (2008) United Kingdom London Large metropolitan area UK001 11,112,364 United Kingdom Birmingham Large metropolitan area UK002 1,839,379 1
United Kingdom Manchester Large metropolitan area UK006 1,744,723 United Kingdom Leeds Metropolitan area UK003 1,211,608 United Kingdom Newcastle Metropolitan area UK010 996,218 United Kingdom Glasgow Metropolitan area UK097 931890 United Kingdom Liverpool Metropolitan area UK005 925,145 United Kingdom Sheffield Metropolitan area UK008 886,030 United Kingdom Nottingham Metropolitan area UK023 813,810 United Kingdom Bristol Metropolitan area UK009 774,172 United Kingdom Bradford Metropolitan area UK004 720,506 United Kingdom Edinburgh Metropolitan area UK098 710,324 United Kingdom Cardiff Metropolitan area UK007 644,873 United Kingdom Leicester Metropolitan area UK011 604,325 United Kingdom Portsmouth Metropolitan area UK017 561,577 United Kingdom Stoke-on-trent Medium-sized urban area UK021 487,373 United Kingdom Middlesbrough Medium-sized urban area UK068 471,002 United Kingdom Poole Medium-sized urban area UK070 448,092 United Kingdom Coventry Medium-sized urban area UK019 442,867 United Kingdom Kingston Upon Hull Medium-sized urban area UK020 419,083 United Kingdom Southampton Medium-sized urban area UK059 413,933 United Kingdom Huddersfield Medium-sized urban area UK046 398,899 United Kingdom Swansea Medium-sized urban area UK056 376,670 United Kingdom Preston Medium-sized urban area UK087 367,930 United Kingdom Wokingham Medium-sized urban area UK079 360,561 United Kingdom Plymouth Medium-sized urban area UK055 350,760 United Kingdom Norwich Medium-sized urban area UK089 345,678 United Kingdom Newport Medium-sized urban area UK084 336,546 United Kingdom Aberdeen Medium-sized urban area UK099 334,626 United Kingdom Derby Medium-sized urban area UK057 324,717 United Kingdom Brighton Medium-sized urban area UK054 323,007 United Kingdom Sunderland Medium-sized urban area UK050 321,365 United Kingdom Motherwell Medium-sized urban area UK100 321,067 United Kingdom Dudley Medium-sized urban area UK047 316,029 United Kingdom The Wirral Medium-sized urban area UK024 312,293 United Kingdom Wigan Medium-sized urban area UK048 311,402 United Kingdom Doncaster Medium-sized urban area UK049 303,193 United Kingdom Wolverhampton Medium-sized urban area UK022 297,461 United Kingdom Chester Medium-sized urban area UK090 291,600 United Kingdom Oxford Medium-sized urban area UK085 269,945 United Kingdom Bolton Medium-sized urban area UK051 267,513 United Kingdom Blackpool Medium-sized urban area UK080 266,144 United Kingdom Petersborough Medium-sized urban area UK074 264,987 United Kingdom Northampton Medium-sized urban area UK063 263,607 United Kingdom Milton Keynes Medium-sized urban area UK061 262,473 United Kingdom Luton Medium-sized urban area UK065 261,810 United Kingdom Rochester Medium-sized urban area UK053 261,592 United Kingdom Walsall Medium-sized urban area UK052 261,116 United Kingdom Cambridge Medium-sized urban area UK012 256,457 United Kingdom Blackburn Medium-sized urban area UK083 250,753 United Kingdom Exeter Medium-sized urban area UK013 249,029 United Kingdom Swindon Medium-sized urban area UK067 240,331 United Kingdom Ipswich Medium-sized urban area UK091 239,228 United Kingdom York Medium-sized urban area UK066 232,228 United Kingdom Bransley Medium-sized urban area UK058 218,063 United Kingdom Oldham Medium-sized urban area UK060 217,273 United Kingdom Rochdale Medium-sized urban area UK062 212,620 United Kingdom Bath Medium-sized urban area UK025 207,372 United Kingdom Colchester Medium-sized urban area UK075 203,870 United Kingdom Warrington Small urban area UK064 191,080 United Kingdom Grimsby Small urban area UK073 188,556 United Kingdom Teldford Small urban area UK072 187,995 United Kingdom Dundee Small urban area UK101 185,307 United Kingdom High Wycombe Small urban area UK071 178,576 United Kingdom Guilford Small urban area UK026 177,266 United Kingdom St Helens Small urban area UK069 176,843 United Kingdom Lincoln Small urban area UK014 171,025 United Kingdom Maidstone Small urban area UK081 170,931 United Kingdom Barford Small urban area UK078 167,697 United Kingdom Torbay Small urban area UK086 166,520 United Kingdom Crawley Small urban area UK096 166,154 United Kingdom Gloucester Small urban area UK093 163,825 United Kingdom Basingstoke Small urban area UK077 159,951 United Kingdom Worthing Small urban area UK033 157,224 United Kingdom Chesterfield Small urban area UK035 155,702 United Kingdom Solihull Small urban area UK088 155,158 United Kingdom South Shields Small urban area UK076 152,785 United Kingdom Cheltenham Small urban area UK092 152,636 United Kingdom Royal Tunbridge Wells Small urban area UK029 151,143 United Kingdom Burton upon Trent Small urban area UK031 148,481 United Kingdom Hemel Hepstead Small urban area UK082 147,043 United Kingdom Falkirk Small urban area UK102 145,191 United Kingdom Worcester Small urban area UK018 143,979 United Kingdom Mansfield Small urban area UK034 141,277 United Kingdom Burnley Small urban area UK037 141,267 United Kingdom Wrexham Small urban area UK016 140,952 United Kingdom Darlington Small urban area UK032 132,475 United Kingdom Carlisle Small urban area UK095 130,781 United Kingdom Eastbourne Small urban area UK041 130,596 United Kingdom Hastings Small urban area UK042 129,050 United Kingdom Hidness Small urban area UK045 127,190 United Kingdom Margate Small urban area UK027 126,702 United Kingdom Lowestoft Small urban area UK028 126,649 United Kingdom Ashford Small urban area UK030 110,957 United Kingdom Bracknell Small urban area UK094 109,617 United Kingdom Cannock Small urban area UK040 102,569 United Kingdom Rugby Small urban area UK036 94,856 United Kingdom Hartlepool Small urban area UK039 93,969 United Kingdom Great Yarmouth Small urban area UK038 90,810 United Kingdom Redditch Small urban area UK043 84,746 United Kingdom Stevenage Small urban area UK015 82,384
3
Total functional urban areas 44,117,424 Share of national population in functional urban areas 73.0% Number of functional urban areas 101
Notes:
Functional urban areas in the Northern Ireland have not been identified due to lack of commuting data.
The functional urban areas identified with the methodology described in the book Redefining “urban”: A new way to measure metropolitan ares, OECD Publishing 2012 are here listed by size, according to four classes: Small urban areas, with population between 50,000 and 200,000 Medium-sized urban areas, with population between 200,000 and 500,000 Metropolitan areas, with population between 500,000 and 1.5 million Large metropolitan areas, with population above 1.5 million
Each functional urban area is an economic unit characterised by densely inhabited “urban cores” and “hinterlands” whose labour market is highly integrated with the cores. The geographic building blocks to define urban areas are the municipalities (LAU2). The cores are defined using the population grid from the global dataset Landscan, referred to circa year 2000. Polycentric cores and the hinterlands of the functional areas are identified on the basis of commuting data (travel from home-to-work) referred to circa year 2000 (Census year).
The list of functional urban areas takes into account the results of the consultation with the European National Statistical Institutes launched by Eurostat in June 2011 on the definition of cities and by the OECD with Delegates from the Working Party on Territorial Indicators. This list of functional urban areas may be reviewed on the basis of additional comments provided by Countries.
The OECD metropolitan areas database (MAD) comprises the functional urban areas with a population of at least 500,000. A preliminary set of statistics for the metropolitan areas database are available here www.oecd.org/gov/regional/measuringurban .